Why my son has my wife's last name

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I did what few men do, and my own father flipped out.

BY DWIGHT GARNER
DEC 16, 2016

This was a political decision and also a personal one. Political because it is so clearly a natural extension of a woman's prerogative to keep her own name in marriage. (As the writer Carol Lloyd asked, why does a woman's first matrimonial act have to be "etymological suicide"?) This freedom still seems relatively new. Until the 1970s, some states required women to use their husband's name in order to bank, get a driver's license, even vote. I'm surprised checkbooks weren't burned alongside bras.

These laws constituted an unpleasant reminder that since America's founding, and for many centuries before that in England, a male surname has functioned as a way of assessing property—women very much included. Silvia Fendi, the creative director of men's wear and accessories for the company that bears her surname, told The New York Times last year that her family had to petition Italy's president for permission to hand down its matrilineal name. "In my family, being a woman is a plus," she said. "So I am a Fendi. I heard they're going to vote for this law that permits women to give their name to children. I hope so." Ms. Fendi, like all my favorite women, is a shite-kicker.

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